The history of Eastern Europe's art collectors was long hostage to the political system after the Russian Revolution and, generally, after World War II. The precious heritage of private art collectors was neglected and viewed with suspicion. Only during "glasnost" their enormous contribution to Russian, Soviet and, in general, East European culture, was recognized and appreciated again.
For years, Austria's main research fund, FWF, generously funded research on this topic at Graz University. The innovative program now covers a wide chronological range – from the "Moscow Medici" who first emerged after the Crimean War to underground collecting under the Soviet regime and, most recently, after the demise of the USSR, to the patrons from the new commercial elite. Geographically, it focuses on Russia's traditional cultural centres – Moscow and St. Petersburg – as well as on the neighbouring countries – the Baltic States, the Ukraine, Armenia and, to some extent, Kazakhstan.
All research projects on art patronage and collecting in Russia and the Soviet Union, with one exception indicated below, were funded by Austria’s main Research Fund, FWF. All of them were carried out by Dr. Waltraud BAYER at Graz Univer¬sity, being supervised and/or mentored by Prof. Harald HEPPNER.
Four of them have been completed so far; two main studies, a monograph and a major co–authored book publication, have appeared in print, another monograph is scheduled to be published in 2005. The last item on the list, project number five “From Cultural to Economic Capital”, has been approved most recently; it will, most likely, start in late 2004. The studies are briefly characterized below:
Bourgeois Art Patronage in Pre-revolutionary Russia, 1850-1917
Private Art Collections in the USSR, 1917-1985 (Case studies)
Soviet Art Exports to the West, 1919-1938
The Unofficial Art Market in the USSR, 1917-1991: Private Art Collecting vs. Official Cultural Policy